The Republican-controlled House rejected on Thursday evening a revamped spending bill that would stave off a federal government shutdown by the end of the week, leaving the ultimate fate of the measure backed by President-elect Donald Trump and his close allies in doubt.
Just hours after the new deal was unveiled, 172 Republicans and two Democrats voted for the bill. It failed to pass under suspension of the rules, meaning the bill needed a two-thirds majority for it to succeed. Another 38 Republicans voted against the bill, siding with the majority of Democrats.
Revised GOP CR fails to even get a majority, let alone two-thirds. 38 Republicans defy Trump. Just 2 Dems voted for the bill. pic.twitter.com/Y1dZVGyTR9
— Jamie Dupree (@jamiedupree) December 19, 2024
The Hill’s Emily Brooks reported that Majority Leader Steve Scalise (R-LA) said the bill would not go to the Rules Committee, a move that would pave the way to a vote requiring only a simple majority for success, but stressed the legislation is not “dead” as members would “continue having talks.”
As evidenced by a tense debate on the House floor, at least some of the Republican opposition to the spending legislation rests with how the bill will extend a suspension of the debt ceiling for another two years beyond January of next year, when the current suspension is slated to expire.
.@SpeakerJohnson on CR: “This is Washington. This is how lawmaking is done…The only change in this legislation is that we are going to push the debt limit to January 30, 2027.” pic.twitter.com/x5FKmAhZWx
— CSPAN (@cspan) December 19, 2024
House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-LA) pushed back on the criticism, saying to a group of reporters before the bill failed, “Even though this vote would push the debt limit to 2027, it in no way reflects any lack of enthusiasm on our part to get about those serious cuts for the American people.
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The legislation that has a continuing resolution (CR) to avert a government shutdown by the weekend had been shaved down by Republicans from 1,547 pages in its original form negotiated between the GOP-led House and Democrat-controlled Senate to 116 pages in the latest version.
According to reports, top-line takeaways from the new deal include a three-month CR, two-year suspension of the debt ceiling until January 2027, a “clean” farm bill package, $110 billion disaster package, clean health extenders without pharmacy benefit manager reform, PAYGO Scorecard wiped to zero, and no E15 provisions in a blow to the ethanol industry.
Trump celebrated the new version of legislation and encouraged lawmakers to vote in favor of it. He alluded to his forthcoming second term and GOP control of Congress, saying, “Now we can Make America Great Again, very quickly, which is what the People gave us a mandate to accomplish.”
Provisions cut from the original CR include a pay raise for lawmakers, the reauthorization of a State Department agency critics say is at the center of a government “censorship scheme,” and a section allowing the transfer of jurisdiction of the RFK stadium site from the federal government to D.C.
Other elements from the initial CR legislation seem to have made it in some form or another into the Republicans’ revamped measure, such as funds for the rebuilding of Maryland’s Francis Scott Key Bridge, which was devastated by a ship collision earlier this year, and some other items.
Elon Musk, who has been tasked with helping to lead the new Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE), and Trump condemned the initial CR. Many Republicans piled on what they slammed as the “cramnibus,” leaving House GOP leadership to begin work on a Plan B offering on Tuesday night.
Many Democrats criticized their GOP colleagues for torpedoing the original CR deal after weeks of negotiations. In a statement, White House Press Secretary Karine Jean-Pierre said, “Republicans are doing the bidding of their billionaire benefactors at the expense of hardworking Americans.”
